Published 6:50 pm, Monday, September 26, 2011

Malloy, speaking to reporters in the Capitol, said he has spoken with UConn President Susan Herbst "a half dozen" times about the issue.

Asked if he would "lobby" Herbst to join the ACC if Notre Dame joined, Malloy said "I don't think you'd need to lobby President Herbst on that subject."

He said that he has spoken with officials from other universities, but declined to detail what he called "private" conversations.

"I think there was an expectancy built up, initially, that this was going to be quickly resolved," Malloy said. "That's clearly not the case. The ACC has the first decision to make and that's whether they're going to stay at 14 teams or go to 16. I know that there's one school that they would like to get into the ACC that would guarantee them going to 16 teams and that's been speculated to be Notre Dame. I suspect that that's true."

Malloy said he believes Notre Dame -- a traditional independent football power with a national following and its own TV deal with NBC that runs through 2015 -- is "not terribly likely" to join the ACC. Since 1966, it has sold out every home football game except one, in South Bend, Ind.

"So absent a Notre Dame is there a compelling reason to go to 16 teams immediately or to remain at the 14 they've enlarged to?" Malloy said. "Beyond that then you fall back to the Big East and the Big East has to rebuild itself to fill the loss of the two teams that left and has to worry about its ability to compete on the major sports of basketball and football in particular, as well as how we make that work for student athletes."

Notre Dame already plays in the Big East in all its sports except football, men's hockey, and men's and women's fencing.